A 150-day ban on the carrying of firearms outside residences across the Philippines starts today to prevent violence that could erupt during the May 13 congressional and local elections in a country awash with weapons and plagued by a history of deadly poll rivalries.

Commission on Elections chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr said the ban, which ends on June 12, suspends all permits to carry firearms in public areas and exempts only top officials, on-duty troops and police, and people facing threats. Violators could be jailed for up to six years.

In the country’s worst elections-related violence, 58 people, including 32 media workers, were killed by more than 100 gunmen in a 2009 massacre blamed on political rivalry between two powerful clans in southern Maguindanao province.

The existence of private militias and more than half a million unlicensed firearms have fuelled fears of violence, officials said.